Ben Cooke’s elementography

Much of the initial part of the shoot on Leighton Beach was using the aforementioned wide angle lens.  It’s true benefit is in the sense of perspective it gives and also it’s ability to empower an object.  It’s one of the widest angle lenses you can get with curvature correction which means you don’t end up with the classic ‘fish eye’ view – not that there’s anything wrong with fish eye, but quite often that’s not desired in an image.

Shots for the next few days will be using the wide angle lens after which I’ll showcase some of the telephoto images.

The beautiful aquamarine and blue/greens of the Indian Ocean are highlighted in this image.  More on that soon!

As a photographer I’m perpetually torn between using my wide angle (16-35mm) lens and my wide to telephoto (28mm to 300mm) lens.  I learnt my craft on the latter however the former revolutionised my way of seeing things.  It was quite a mindshift to think about the additional width that the lens gives you and just how to take photos to fully take advantage of that.

I’m still honing that skill, but an image like this makes me want to never take it off of the camera.  Of course, as soon as I think that, I see a situation and ultimately a photo that disagrees.  Certainly, when I was first starting out, it sure was easier to have a fixed lens, because, then it didn’t matter.

Freedom is both a blessing and a curse.  I’m not complaining, mind.

Leighton Beach is one of the last remaining peaceful beaches on the coast between Perth and Fremantle.  It’s never too busy, you can take your dog, and you can always get a park.  That’s all about to change when the new developments come into play in the coming years around North Freo station and it’s sad to think this little slice of history will soon be lost to spiralling apartments and cafe lattes.

For now though, the resplendent foot bridge linking the Stirling Highway and Port Beach Road across the Freo line stands; the old comms tower is sadly no longer with us.  Hopefully the bridge, which will feature on this site over the next few days, will remain.

Baby, baby, baby, light my way.

Brightly coloured townhouses poised atop a hill beside the West Coast Highway in Scarborough melt into a blur of early dusk light and car momentum.

The strong south westerly winds we’ve been cursed with this year manage to dredge up all sorts of miscellania onto the beach, though even more tends to appear in the autumn when the strong ocean currents kick.

Looking fresh from a japanese restaurant, the afternoon offerings could do with some soy sauce.

Bennion Beach is a dog friendly beach which always lends itself to a myriad of frantically placed footsteps near the water’s edge.  Each animal that wanders the beach (human included) leave their own unique mark, but none perhaps so frenetic as the canine.

In other news, I’ve posted the back story for the recent Kings Park series featuring the boab tree.  Another trip is due there shortly.

An ever lengthening continuation of my fascination of how we shape our environment and attempt to communicate sans language.  Shiny, yellow and red don’t any way detract from the attraction.

As I probably tended to go on a bit about on my old site, I’m a huge fan of how things change over time and also taking the time to document them in my short passage on the face of the earth.

Bennion Beach has been a very happy photographic hunting ground for me ever since I moved to Perth and it’s nice to know that nothing has changed.  A trip there  a couple of weekends ago to watch a somewhat lack lustre sunset (it looked promising with smoke hanging in the air) was still saved by the immeasurable beauty of this part of the coastline including the occasional rusty pole.  Some more images from this trip will follow over the next few days.

Part of the Kings Park War Memorial is a 180° semi circle that includes inscriptions of many of the theatres of wars that Australian soldiers fought in.

One of the other aspects of the wall is its wonderful ability to transfer sound.  Due to the delightful laws of physics, a person can sit at each end and simply by speaking under their breath easily relay messages to the other person without anyone outside hearing.  Unless, of course, they choose to sit in the middle of you!